I haven’t put in a plug for this yet, but I am managing an ongoing fundraiser for the Darby Free Library in Darby, PA. It’s the oldest continuously running library in the United States having been in operation since 1743. But it’s in danger of closing down.

I was inspired enough to raise funds, hence the beginning of the Crafters for Darby Library fundraiser, which sells literacy related crafts (such as beaded bookmarks), vintage craft, gardening, and cookbooks. To date I’ve raised $142. If you sell on Etsy, I am definitely interested in other literacy related crafters getting involved with the effort, so definitely convo me at crafts4darbylibrary for more info.

I also recieved this info from the library the other day:

“It’s great to learn that so many people want to help preserve our history and support the mission of the Darby Library Company to provide public library service. By your help and others we have raised close to $10,000.”

Very cool! If you can get involved in any way to help save this library, please do!

First off a couple of links sure to give you a chuckle. Christian Liberal is back to posting, and he points out that John Boehner kind of resembles Howdy Doody. Blue Gal also points out that Cindy McCain and the latest Mrs. Newt Gingrich kind of look like each other too.

Hat tip to Crooks and Liars’ Mike Finnegan: Opus Dei declares war on moderate Catholic clergy and the Obama Administration. Meanwhile, Blind in Texas has an important question for Evangelicals and other religious wingnuts on the question of torture.

Marcella of abyss2hope writes about a report on rape and sexual violence in Minnesota, and has some suggestions for Minnesota and all of us on how to stop rape. Tobes writes about something very interesting. It seems Dane Cook had a rare moment of awareness and spoke out about wrong it is to throw the word “rape” around gratuitiously, and how the experiences of rape survivors are *nothing* like losing at a video game, and throwing the word around will rightfully offend survivors.

Arrrrrrgh! HuffPo reported that a judge ruled that Gitmo detainees can be held indefinitely.

Double Arrrrgh! Crooks and Liars report that the banking industry is rushing to repay TARP funds so prevent government regulation stepping in.

Women’s Glib has a poem about how we women will never measure up to impossible beauty standards. Cara has a post discussing a misogynist tabloid cover that took an especially vicious umbrage towards Uma Thurman’s body. And Renee wrote about a 75 year old woman in the news right now for getting a vaginoplasty, and talked about what that means to all women.

Feministe has a link and a little comment about the reports Rumsfeld’s office sent to GWB that played up an evangelical view of the Iraq War.

Speaking of war, Think Progress reports that we’ve lost another great member of our military to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. *sigh*

Jonathan Turley reports on a study that showed that some of the happiest people are older Republican men. I am thinking “well duh,” since they benefit from the oppresion of the rest of us!

Susie from Suburban Guerilla reported on Karen Hughes’ sudden announcement that she was opposed to the Bush Administration’s torture policy the whole time. MOMocrats debate the torture photos issue.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Governor Schwarznegger’s propositions all failed at the voting booth. h/t to Tequila, who comments at Crooks and Liars. 😉

RH Reality Check posted a roundup of links, including an article on the abortion rights aspect of the Supreme Court nominee fight.

Early this morning, while out and about in town buying supplies for the bathroom and garden, I had one of those little experiences of sexism that arise in the life of a woman from time to time.

The city bus driver, though seemingly a nice man, is a Rush Limbaugh dittohead. And for whatever reason, he has decided to scrutinize and comment on my purchases when I am taking the route he is driving that day.

I had a garden planter among other items, and he asked, “You went into town just to get a bucket? You women and your shopping. No wonder nothing gets done at the house, no dinner, no lunch…”

Blech. How screwed up is it when someone talks to you in such an arrogant manner with some ridiculous preconcieved notion about what you ought to be doing, and what your priorities are supposed to be? Why should I have to stay home to please a bitter old man?

Unfortunately for Rush Limbaugh dittoheads of the male persuasion, my priorities right now and quite rich and full, and do not consist of being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.

My most recent relationship was with a man who insisted that we were both young, and that we ought to just enjoy ourselves. For him, that meant partying for the most part. I am not really a party person. Not in the sense that most people my age think of as parties. I quite like the idea of private entertaining for a few friends, having a nice meal and connecting and reconnecting with friends at a time when the bustle of life can make that difficult. It’s because of our diverging priorities that the relationship didn’t last. So I went back to being happily single and working the things that do command my time and concern.

Hmm, let’s see, what are my priorities, in no specific order?

I’m an artist, craftsperson, and business owner. That means I’m in the middle of preparing for a debut with an out of state boutique soon, and am hoping to arrange more consignment deals in other locales, while creating my works and filling orders placed directly with me. I’m also in the process of setting up a tent studio in my backyard.

I’m a college student, which means that I have been hustling for financial aid and preparing for an upcoming full load of courses covering many different areas, such as Spanish, and Shakespeare.

I’m someone’s adult daughter, which means that I am caregiving for my mother right now, and will probably be so for the foreseeable future as she is having health difficulties and has no one else to keep an eye on her and make sure she’s getting to a doctor except for moi.

I’m a member of an extended family, which means loving and supporting dozens of uncles, aunts, cousins, you name it. It means babysitting occasionally. It means going to Sunday dinners, to birthdays, to weddings, to funerals, or sometimes just cuz. It means caring for babies, and reassuring a sleepless child that she’ll be just fine.

I’m a pet parent of four little animals, including two dogs with special needs who also require attentive care and lots of TLC, having come from abusive situations prior to living with me.

I’m an activist, which means that I have been working hard on a library fundraiser for an endangered library, am hoping to resume volunteering at my local library, and am long overdue to resume updating my website for fellow rape and sexual abuse survivors, which has been helping survivors and their loved ones for over 9 years now.

I’m a friend, which means listening to long venting sessions and emphathizing, the need to get away and enjoy myself with others, and trying to crochet summer baby blankets for a pregnant friend.

I’m someone with responsibilies to the environment, which means gardening, making jewelry with recycled materials, and trying to figure out how to reduce my carbon footprint.

I’m a person with a physical body, which means getting up at 6 am to head to the community center to work out, studying the food pyramid, and yes, preparing meals that are good for me and for my loved ones who will be eating my food.

I’m an intellectual seeker, which means I have to have my nose in several books at one time, that I have to have debate and discussion with others, and that I have to have, gasp, a thought life!

I’m a spiritual seeker, which means learning about the earth and the spirit realm through a variety of ways, be it books, prayer, meditation, or just feeling the wind outside.

I managed to accomplish all of these things at different stages of my life despite having debilitating depression and post-traumatic stress disorder for many years, and you can bet I am doing all these things now and more, as I have reached a state of wellness.

And now the Rush Limbaugh dittoheads of the world want to tell me I get nothing done around my house?

Hi there, time for a long overdue compilation of some great links. I hope you enjoy them! 🙂

First off, Crooks and Liars writes about a disgusting ad in California from the religious right in an attempt to fight the granting of marriage equality to the GLBT community. Momocrats have a post about Vermont’s legalizing gay marriage, and challenges California to do the same.

At The Curvature, Cara writes about what the MSM should be reporting on the “sexting” scares… Marcella of abyss2hope posted the latest edition of the Carnival Against Sexual Violence. Feministe let us know about an upcoming Take Back the Night march. Cara also warned everyone about how triggering and awful Seth Rogen’s new movie is. Marcella also reported about a serial rapist who is dragging his victims’ reputations through the mud…

RH Reality Check has a great roundup of family planning news. They also have a great essay from a young lady about emergency contraception for teenage girls. MOMocrats write about international family planning issues, and have a list of charities that help with this issue.

Reappropriate has info on a racist Texas State Representative who thinks Asian-Americans should change their names to make things easier on election workers. Racialicious has an interesting quote from Bai Ling about Asians and Hollywood’s stereotypes.

Reappropriate also has an article about actor Kal Penn joining the Obama administration.

February 7, 2009

I promised myself that this first DIY post on my motivations for craftiness would’ve come a lot sooner, but, I’ve been busy with my hand-crafted jewelry and accessories business, so go figure! 🙂

There are tons of good reasons and motivations for hand-crafting. Some are quite personal, others are political. I come from a crafty family, so it’s not surprising that I am obsessed with crafting. My Mom did copious amounts of embroidery while she was pregnant with me, my Grandma dabbled in crochet when she could, that same grandmother and my great-grandmother both quilted out of family necessity, and I am proud to tell anyone that one of my great-great-great grandmothers on my Dad’s side was a single mother who supported herself and her little boy by having her own weaving business. I am so proud to be carrying on these traditions. My Mom taught me to sew when I was seven years old, right around the time I had a wonderful knit-wit (knitting) babysitter who encouraged me to be creative. The rest is history.

Another great reason is that it is a great creative outlet for me. I needed an outlet that didn’t focus on my negative emotions. I do write poetry, but it got to where words were not a fun medium, more like a form of exorcism for me.

DIY has been empowering for me. The last year or so of improving my skills and adding to them in preparation to start my business has been a great experience. I imagine that I must be able to relate my ancestress the weaver now, with both the pitfalls and the joys of seeing the fruits of our labors and talents.

And one last area I’ll mention, is that DIY is a way for me to act on my political convictions. Portions of the sales I make are tithed to worthy charities and non-profits and I donate my crafts to charity events for them to use for fundraising purposes. I pride myself on improving my awareness of how to lessen my carbon footprint a bit by using vintage and recycled materials (including literal trash the blows into my yard!) in my jewelry projects, for instance.

This past Christmas all of my gifts were either handmade by me, or I gave the gift of supplies to my crafty pals. I’d like to think that if more people made the presents they give, or if they bought handmade from small crafty businesses, we could avoid feeding the commercialized beast that caused the death of that poor Wal-Mart employee this past Black Friday.

So that’s why I choose to DIY.

For those of you who craft, what sorts of crafts are you into? And why do you choose to DIY? 🙂

Crooks and Liars and The Curvature report on the horrifying news story out of Algeria; a CIA station chief is accused of drugging and raping two Muslim women. My thoughts are with the women and what they must be going through.

From abyss2hope, the Supreme Court rules against a company who retailiated against a woman who reported sexual harrassment.

Here’s a great article explaining what went wrong with the world economy. h/t to Crooks and Liars commenters again.

Michelle has a great essay about how our learning styles affect our thinking as liberals and conservatives.

Womanist Musings has an open letter to Ted and Gayle Haggard in the wake of their interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Feministe writes about teenage sexuality not being as wild as people, especially nosy conservatives, assume it to be.

Racialicious has a fascinating look at transgender and African-American history through the pages of popular African-American magazines, such as Ebony.

Natalia Antonova responds to someone who hurled racist and sexist abuse in her direction after she posted about dealing with sexual harrassment in Jordan. The response is compassionate, and stands up for Middle Eastern/Arab men.

MOMocrats write about how Dr. Jill Biden will continue her job as a college English professor.

Time for my roundup of blog links for the first time in such a long while. Here we go!

Racist pig Chip Saltsman, who is in the running for RNC chairman, tells Contessa Brewer that it’s all the *media’s* fault that he sent out a mixtape of racist songs including “Barack the Magic Negro” to his Republican buddies and got caught in the process. Yes Chip, blame the media! H/T to Crooks and Liars.

Rachel at Rachel’s Tavern posted about the scary actions of racist mobs in Australia.

HuffPo has an article on the House of Representative passing the stimulus bill without the help of the House Republicans.

Natalia Antonova writes about how the dire economic situation in Kiev, Ukraine is leading to more alcohol abuse and then more sexual harrassment and out of control behaviors in general. She then makes a great point, when are people going to quit excusing violence and harrassment with the phrase “he was drunk?”

Brownfemipower has some powerful insight on how the myths surrounding the life of Sacagawea affect Indigenous women and women of color living today.